


Something There

by WorryinglyInnocent



Series: Maison Rouge ficlets [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Maison Rouge, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 06:59:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7257226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle and Gold's first kiss, set around three years prior to <em>Maison Rouge</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something There

**Author's Note:**

> Ages and ages ago, I had a prompt for Belle and Gold’s first kiss in the _Maison Rouge_ ‘verse. I wanted to hold off writing it until I’d posted the chapter with Belle’s background, and after then I just completely forgot. Anyhow, I thought that something short and sweet like this might get my head back in the writing game.
> 
> TW: mentions of past domestic abuse.

**Something There**

It could not have been much above freezing outside, but Belle did not feel the cold. The February air was crisp and refreshing, and not having ventured outside the theatre’s safe and sturdy walls since her arrival in December, she could feel the chill breeze blowing away some of her pain and fears. It was a new year, and it would be a better year. She could survive. She had already survived the worst of it. Now it was a time for picking up the pieces that Gerard had shattered her into and putting them back together again. The healing process had already begun within the theatre’s welcoming atmosphere of warmth and unconditional love, and Belle smiled to herself as she stood in the main doorway, her hands curled around a cup of cocoa, the steam curling into thick white tendrils in the air in front of her, drifting upwards from the cup to join the puffs of her misted breath. There was frost on the ground – there had been no snow this year – and the sharp white edges made everything look clean and new.

Things were definitely getting better. For the first couple of weeks after her arrival, she had kept herself to herself, glad of the protection that the vast old building offered her but nervous of the people and what they might think of her, whether they would think her weak or cowardly for running away from her old life like she had done. But quite the opposite had happened, with everyone, even the standoffish Mr Gold, quietly and privately congratulating her for her courage and strength to push through her fear and break away, to save herself. Gradually her confidence had grown, and she no longer felt the need to hide away. Perhaps one day soon she would venture out into the world again properly, but for now, she was content to stay here in the theatre’s porch, watching the outside but without any obligation to be a part of it yet. Circumstances would force her to leave her comfort zone soon enough – she needed to go to the hospital to make sure her broken hand was healing properly – but whilst she had the choice to stay hidden for a while longer, she was going to take it.

Belle took a sip of her cocoa and she found her thoughts wending back in the direction of Mr Gold. Rum, he’d said that she could call him Rum. He wasn’t nearly as aloof as he was made out to be, and she wondered why he had been so wary of her when she had first arrived. Maybe it was something to do with his own past, or maybe Granny had told him to keep his distance in case he triggered memories of Gerard that she would rather forget. A twinge of pain shot through her hand and she hugged her mug closer, hoping that perhaps the heat would soothe her. He knew what she had been through, because he had been through it himself. In a way he gave her confidence, because she knew that he’d survived the hardships and come out the other side. If he could do it, then she could as well. He gave her hope, and it was hope that she had been lacking in her life for so long. She’d found herself spending more and more time with him, seeking out his presence. He never seemed to mind. In fact, he appeared to enjoy it if the faint little blush in his cheeks was anything to go by when they ended up sitting in the bar together, talking about everything and nothing into the small hours when her slumber had turned against her and she didn’t want to go back to sleep. Of all the people at the theatre, Gold had turned out to be the best at chasing her nightmares away.

She shook her head. It was too soon; she was still too raw from everything that had happened to consider this seriously, but she would be lying if she said that she had not considered him in that light. He was everything that Gerard wasn’t, which was why she knew she had to be careful, she had to take her time and not rush into something simply because it was so different to – and therefore, logic said, better than – what she had known before. But the possibility was definitely there. When she could trust her bruised and battered heart a bit more.

Presently she heard the tapping of a cane on the wooden floor behind her announcing the arrival of the man himself, and she turned to look over her shoulder, the box office seeming incredibly dark after the bright, frosty white of the outside. She smiled as he approached, letting him know that he was welcome and not intruding upon her introspection. He came up beside her in the doorway and leaned heavily on his cane, stretching out his injured ankle in front of him.

“It’s a beautiful morning,” he said. Belle nodded.

“Yes,” she said. “I woke up and I saw the frost and the clear air, and I wanted to see it properly, not just from my window.” She paused. “It looks better from here.”

They remained in silence for a while, Belle drinking her cocoa and Gold just watching the world go by, and gradually Belle became aware that his eyes had shifted from the icy driveway to her. She turned and smiled at him.

“What are you thinking, Rum?” she asked.

He broke his gaze with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Not something that you would want to hear. I should… I should leave you in peace.”

“Wait.” Belle reached out towards him as he turned to leave the doorway but did not catch his arm, still somewhat unsure of his physical limits. “Please don’t go. I like the company. I like knowing that there’s someone there to turn to if I need them.”

“You don’t have to worry about being alone,” Gold said. “I promise. We’re always here for you.”

“I know.”

He didn’t move any further away, but it was almost as if they were trapped in a moment, like a paused video, perfect stillness in the middle of a dynamic scene, each one waiting for the other to make the first move.

It was Gold who made that first move.

“I was thinking about how much you’ve blossomed since you’ve been here,” he said eventually. “The way you’ve come out of your shell and tiptoed into our world, and become a part of it. There’s something there that wasn’t there before.” He paused. “You’ve always been beautiful, but now it seems like you’re happier as well, and that shows in your face. You’re… brighter.”

“Thank you. I do feel a lot better now. Not perfect. Not yet. But… better.” Belle smiled at the dregs of her cocoa before lifting her face to meet Gold’s eyes, dark and kind and old beyond their years with heavy life experience.

“You think I’m beautiful.” She didn’t know why she fixated on those words. Well, she did. She hadn’t heard them in such a long time, and as practical and sensible as she was, inside every person there was a small and insecure kernel of doubt, desperately longing to be reassured of their own beauty.

“Yes.” His voice was matter-of-fact; calm and neutral, expecting nothing. He made no presumptions. That was one of the things she liked about him.

Belle had the strangest impulse to go up on her tiptoes and kiss him, but she didn’t. Too soon, she reminded herself. Too soon, and she didn’t know that he would appreciate an uninvited entry into his personal space like that. But she wanted to, a sign of her gratitude for making her feel like she could be wanted again, eventually.

“What are you thinking, Belle?” Gold asked, his head on one side. Belle shook her head.

“Not something that you would want to hear.”

“All right.” He didn’t press her, just as she had not pressed him. And yet, he had confided in her anyway, and it had been for the best.

“I was thinking that I wanted to kiss you,” she said, the words coming out rather more quickly than she’d intended them to.

The corner of Gold’s mouth twitched up in a shy smile, almost schoolboy-like.

“You can if you want,” he said. “I won’t mind.”

He helpfully leaned in as Belle went up on her toes and pressed her lips against his. It only lasted a moment before she pulled away, but she felt him return the pressure, and it made her smile.

“Belle, I…” Gold began, sounding nervous, but there was a brightness in his eyes that had not been there before, not quite desire yet but perhaps the stage before it. Realisation, perhaps, that this was an option.

“I’m not quite ready for anything yet,” Belle said, saving him from speaking. “But maybe when I am ready…” She tailed off, but Gold gave a nod of understanding.

“I’d like that,” he said. “We’ll just see how it goes.”

Belle nodded, and they continued to look out over the cold morning, and the prospect of what might happen in the future.

 


End file.
